PRECIOUS hours in the search for missing Brit teen Jay Slater have been wasted after police moved their hunt to the other side of Tenerife following a false sighting.
Mountain rescue crews today left the hills where Jay, 19, disappeared on Monday and started scouring the south of the island.
The drastic move to tourist resorts Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas was prompted after officers received reports of an alleged sighting of the teen.
But the huge search operation has now moved back near the village of Masca in northwestern Tenerife after the report turned out to be false.
Cops, firefighters, sniffer dogs, drones and helicopters are among those combing the mountain area around Rural de Teno Park, where a disorientated Jay last called his friend.
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It comes as Jay's worried mum fears he could have been taken "against his will".
Debbie Duncan, who has flown out to the island to help search for her beloved son, said his disappearance "doesn't feel real".
She said: "I think he’s been taken against his will with what’s been said, but it’s in the hands of the police.
"It’s just traumatic and it doesn’t feel real. It’s just awful, it’s horrendous.
"He’s just a great person who everyone wanted to be with. He’s good looking, he’s a popular boy."
It comes as Jay's final Snapchat post, sent just an hour before he was last heard from, has been revealed.
The teen, from Lancashire, shared a snap of his hand holding a cigarette at the accommodation he had gone to on Sunday with two men around 7.30am.
It comes as...
- Jay, 19, was first reported missing on Monday after vanishing on his way home from a rave the night before
- His stepdad Andy said Jay is "no mug" but could've taken a wrong turn on a 10-hour walk back to his hotel
- Mum Debbie was told by cops at 2am on Tuesday to catch the first flight to Tenerife
- She was later bombarded with prank calls from trolls claiming to have kidnapped her son
- A Coronation Street star with a connection to Jay's family published an appeal for help to find him
- Jay's posted a Snapchat the night before he vanished showing him smiling with friends
- His friend Lucy described the teen's disappearance as "suspicious and weird" as cops vowed to keep an "open mind"
The apprentice bricklayer had flown out to Tenerife with friends Lucy Mae and Brad for the 2024 New Rave Generation (NRG) festival which ended on Sunday.
He left that night with two other men he had just met to go to their apartment, Manchester Evening News reports.
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Jay's last known location was the Teno Rural Park in the northwest of the island - a popular hiking spot for tourists - at around 8am on Monday.
The site is a 10-hour walk from where he was staying.
Jay's friend Lucy said today that Jay's disappearance is "suspicious" and insisted "something weird’s going on".
A spokesman for the Civil Guard said today around 12.30pm local time: “The search operation has moved to the south of the island.
“The search areas are Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas.”
The spokesman didn't give more detail on the reason for the switch but said: “It’s obviously down to information that’s been received as the investigation has progressed.
“As things stand at the moment the search in the mountainous area near Masca in the north has been halted.”
Police said this morning they were keeping an open mind on Jay’s disappearance as the third day of the huge search got underway.
A different Snapchat post, sent by Jay on Sunday night before he disappeared, showed the teen smiling with friends.
It was filmed at around 8.30pm in the Arona area of Santa de Cruz on the south of the island, where the festival was held.
After calling Lucy at 8am on Monday a missing person’s report was filed at around 9am and the search kicked into gear.
Jay's mum Debbie Duncan and older brother Zak flew out on Tuesday to join the efforts.
FAMILY'S HEARTACHE
Debbie's partner Andy Watson, told Lancashire Live how police urged the family to get out to the island as soon as possible in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
He said: "It was about 2.30am in the early hours.
"The police said 'the best thing you can do is get yourself out there', we knew it was bad. This was his first holiday on his own."
A stricken Debbie flew out from Manchester Airport at 7am that morning.
Andy, 63, also said "every mum who has a child out there has gone to help", with the massive search.
Debbie revealed on Tuesday how she had been bombarded with horrific prank calls during the search, from trolls claiming to have kidnapped Jay.
She told how Brits with "northern accents" were calling her from blocked numbers, claiming they had her son captive and were keeping him because he owed them money.
Debbie said: "I just don’t know why people would want to do things like this. I’ve been getting lots of prank calls. It’s sickening.
"People ringing me and saying they’ve got Jay because he owes them money."
MAMMOTH SEARCH OPERATION
The huge search entered its third day on Wednesday near the village of Masca, in the northwest of the island near Jay's last known location, Manchester Evening News reports.
The "Jay Slater Missing" Facebook group, which already has almost 140,000 members, claimed that cops were stopping drivers in the area to show them Jay's photo on Wednesday morning.
Fiona Duncan, possibly Jay's maternal aunt, announced in the page that she would be travelling out to help with Jay's uncle and vowed to find him.
She wrote: "Myself, Jay’s uncle and sister in law fly out today at 3pm to search for Jay.
"I just want to thank everyone for their kind words and support. We will find him."
Debbie told MailOnline that she was too distraught to go up to the mountains and help with the search but would wait for news from Los Cristianos in the south.
The frantic mum said: "We haven't had any real update but I'm waiting for news from the British consulate.
"There was talk of a helicopter going over the area today but I can't face going up there I'm going to stay here in Los Cristianos and wait for news.
"His friends and Lucy are up there helping and I have more family coming out today.
"We all just want him found safe and sound as quickly as possible."
SUSPICIOUS & WEIRD
Lucy Mae, the last person to speak to Jay before he vanished, fought back tears today as she said: “There’s something weird going on. It is suspicious. In two days you’re telling me someone’s not seen him.
“There’s a restaurant 10 minutes away that he would have seen or walked past. It’s suspicious and it’s weird."
Lucy told The Sun that her friend "isn't stupid" and he called her from an area "full of hikers" in "broad daylight".
She added: “Fair enough it didn’t open for another two hours but if that were me I would have sat and waited at the restaurant till it opened.
"As soon as it opened I would have said, ‘Please can you put my phone on charge’ and then I would have rung someone, I would have rung a taxi."
